


Teyla's First Christmas

by StarbucksSue



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 02:10:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarbucksSue/pseuds/StarbucksSue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Tielan for Fandom Stocking 2013.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Teyla's First Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> Written for Tielan for Fandom Stocking 2013.

Teyla walked through the mess, smiling at the crowds of people enjoying the holiday celebrations. She hadn’t understood at first, getting confused with the stories of a man called Santa Claus, who was also known as Father Christmas, St Nicholas and several other names. She’d had a hard time trying to understand where he and his sleigh fit in with the story of the child Jesus, born in a stable and visited by kings, wise men and shepherds all bringing him gifts. In the end Elizabeth and Kate Heightmeyer had set her straight and she now understood the Earth traditions and why the holiday was celebrated and she had been looking forward to relaxing and spending the day with her team.

Unfortunately, despite Aiden Ford’s boyish enthusiasm, John and Rodney seemed to be the only people who didn’t seem to want to celebrate the holiday. When asked why Rodney had pointedly informed her that it was a religious holiday and he didn’t believe in religion, therefore, he didn’t celebrate. John had been more evasive, simply saying that his Christmases hadn’t been that great so he didn’t have anything to celebrate.

Elizabeth had deliberately organized the holiday to be as non-religious as possible and had invited the Athosians from the mainland. The Winter Holiday, as it was named, was something that the whole Expedition was celebrating, regardless of their religion. Which was why Teyla was determined that her Team were going to spend at least the evening together as between the Expedition and Athosian chefs they had ensured that there was a special dinner laid on, along with music and games for all ages.

Leaving Aiden to round up Rodney, Teyla went in search of John. She knew he couldn’t be far away as she’d seen him in the Control Room earlier, despite the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be on duty.

The Control Room was quiet as she walked in, a skeleton crew manned the critical stations and, as she’d thought, John was there talking quietly to Peter Grodin.

“Oh there you are Colonel, I have been looking all over for you, you are a very difficult man to find sometimes.”

“I’ve been here all afternoon.”

“But you are supposed to be in the mess. Elizabeth went to a lot of trouble to organize these festivities and she would be disappointed if Atlantis’ Commanding Officer was not in attendance.” She’d already decided that playing the guilt card was the best way to get through to her team leader. “And Dr McKay will be disappointed as well, Aiden and I had persuaded him that this dinner was important for us all to attend as the leading offworld team and we assured him that you would feel let down if he did not attend.”

John stood and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Teyla, I told you that I don’t like these things. I haven’t celebrated this holiday since I was a kid and I don’t have good memories.” He finished quietly.

“Then maybe it is time to change that, Colonel.” Teyla smiled softly. “Come and join your team and make some new memories.”

He looked up at her and she saw the exact moment he gave in.

“Oh, alright then.” He smiled back at her and turned to Peter. “Chuck should be relieving you in a couple of hours so you can join in the fun, looks like I’ll see you there.”

They turned and made their way back to the mess. Spying Rodney and Aiden at their usual table.

“And about time too, Colonel. Ford came and dragged me away from a very important experiment because he said you’d be disappointed if I didn’t come and spend the evening with the team so this better be worth it.”

John smiled and relaxed at Rodney’s familiar grumbling, Aiden’s rolled eyes and Teyla’s indulgent smile and started bantering with Rodney, making Teyla catch Aiden’s eye, sharing his affection for the two senior members of the team.

Several hours later she knew it had been worthwhile. All four of them were squashed onto one of the couches in the large rec room, with the room crowded with others. One of the science team had the forethought to upload several Christmas movies onto their laptop which had been hooked up to one of the Ancient monitors and they were currently halfway through their second movie of the night, It’s a Wonderful Life. They had already watched Miracle on 34th Street and there were others which John and the others had promised her they would watch over the coming days, Scrooged, A Christmas Carol, Lethal Weapon, The Santa Clause. 

In all honesty, Teyla really didn’t mind what she watched. With John squashed up against her happy and relaxed, laughing and bantering with Rodney who was the other side of him and Aiden grinning at her across the other two men, with all of them trying to explain various Earth customs to her, she finally felt that she understood the real meaning of the Earth holiday and couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the event than with her team.


End file.
